San Diego Spotlight : Circus-Like Atmosphere Dominates La Jolla Eatery

In the days of less dazzling entertainments--but perhaps today, as well--the circus always included among its dozens of acts a juggler equipped with slender poles of varying lengths and dozens of large, white dinner plates.

As soon as the plates had been set spinning atop the poles, the poles were positioned on the fellow’s shoulders, wrists, nose, forehead and anywhere else they could get a precarious purchase, and, except in rare instances, the wonder of it was that nary a plate came crashing to the packed earth floor under the big top.

La Jolla’s new Piatti--the name means “Plates”--has the air of a circus with three, five or even 10 rings, and the wonder of the place is that with all the busyness, with the roar of voices that sometimes rises to the pitch of a swarm of migrating bees, with all the juggling of customers and reservations and plates filled with ordinary to superb Italian fare, nothing comes crashing to the earth-toned tile floor. One recent Friday the restaurant jingled and jangled and vibrated so persistently that an inescapable impression was that, if the world outside suddenly ended, the customers might remain unaware of the fact for a good half hour. The mood marks an about-face from the staid, sedate tone favored by the building’s former, famous and long-departed occupant, Gustaf Anders.

All of which is to say that Piatti is a lot of fun, as long as you agree that nothing beats a lively restaurant for an informal meal. The designers certainly knew that the hard surfaces (painted with amusing representations of key vegetables, meats and other foods from the Italian larder), the open kitchen and the lack of any draperies or carpets that might absorb some of the sound would make for a lot of decibels.

The restaurant is the fourth in a small, well-conceived chain that had its beginnings in the Napa Valley wine country town of Yountville. The rustic, busy but none-too-dressy menu resembles those at Prego and Il Fornaio, although it is far shorter--a situation that is by no means a curse. The menu by and large is as handsome as the setting in which it is served, and when the kitchen seems in tune, as it did one evening, the cooking can be grand. That the kitchen is not always in tune was evidenced by the food sampled on a second visit.

Piatti paints pretty pictures on its plates with such presently fashionable, and undeniably delicious, ingredients as arugula (the versatile, bitter green that doubles as herb and lettuce), bresaola , grilled fennel, zucchini and eggplant, peppery radicchio and musky porcini mushrooms. And although the “plates” theme would seem to imply building a meal by ordering several of them, portions tend to be substantial.

Among truly lovely dishes is the carpaccio “ mezzo e mezzo ,” or “half and half,” which dresses one side of a plate of unimaginably thin, tender beef with a squiggle of exceedingly hot mustard sauce, and the other with an artsy scattering of capers, fruity olive oil and shavings of grana , a Parmesan-like cheese. Another is the finocchio alla griglia , or grilled portions of fennel bulb wrapped in pancetta before cooking so that the bacon crisps while basting the delicious, licorice-like vegetable. A caramelized onion dressing glamorously gilds this particular lily.

Another starter that is interesting but not all that satisfying is salad of warm white beans decorated with bresaola (air-cured beef), arugula and chopped tomato. The arrangement is attractive to the eye, but on the palate the beans remain--as fate has condemned them to do--just beans. The Caesar salad is fresh and crisp but wants a creamier dressing and fewer anchovy filets.

While many dishes arrive from the grill, many others cook in the semi-volcanic heat of the wood-burning oven. This list of pizzas, calzone and focaccia sandwiches is fairly restrained, and includes the classic Margherita, a marinara pizza topped with fresh tomatoes and oregano and a calzone stuffed with smoked ham, mushrooms, two cheeses, basil and garlic. There is always a pizza of the day, recently a vegetarian pie that lived up to its name to the point of excluding cheese. The arrangement of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant over a wonderfully thin, puffy-edged crust was excellent, and, oddly enough, had a meaty quality.

The imagination displayed by the pasta list--and the superb finish of the first two pastas sampled--made Piatti seem headed for inclusion in the pasta hall of fame. The noodles in the lasagna al pesto were an impossibly delicate green, which provided a background for the darker pesto on top and the grilled zucchini that mingled with cheeses in the filling. The finish of fine, light tomato sauce and toasted pine nuts caused the guest who ordered this to exclaim, “I never want to eat anything else but this!”

On a much more savory, entirely different note, the fettuccia (extra-wide fettuccine, flavored with tomato added to the dough) in rabbit sauce came off just as well, the melting meat rich and smooth against the racy Swiss chard, red wine and porcini that filled out the dark, gravy-like sauce.

However, the pappardelle “fantasia,” or wide, saffron-tinged noodles garnished with a casual mosaic of pink shrimp, red tomatoes and green arugula, proved very disappointing in flavor, and the tortiglioni (an unusual hollow, spiral-shaped macaroni), while fun because of the goofy shapes, suffered from leaden meatballs and a tomato sauce that tasted acrid and over-cooked.

The wine list would be complete if it included a larger selection of moderate bottles; the dessert list stands quite successfully as is.

Piatti

2176 Avenida de la Playa, La Jolla

454-1589

Lunch and dinner daily

Entrees $6.95 to $17.95 Dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, about $30 to $70

Credit cards accepted